Daily Almanac for Saturday, Feb. 11

Today is Saturday, Feb. 11, the 42nd day of 2017. There are 323 days left in the year.

Highlights in history

• In 1812, Massachusetts Gov. Elbridge Gerry signed a redistricting law favoring his Democratic-Republican Party — giving rise to the term "gerrymandering."

• In 1862, the Civil War Battle of Fort Donelson began in Tennessee. (Union forces led by Brig. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant captured the fort five days later.)

• In 1937, a sit-down strike against General Motors ended with the company agreeing to recognize the United Automobile Workers.

• In 1945, President Franklin D. Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Soviet leader Josef Stalin signed the Yalta Agreement, in which Stalin agreed to declare war against Imperial Japan following Nazi Germany's capitulation.

• In 1990, South African black activist Nelson Mandela (above) was freed after 27 years in captivity.

• In 2013, Pope Benedict XVI announced his resignation. (The 85-year-old pontiff was succeeded by Pope Francis.)

• Ten years ago: Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, marking the 28th anniversary of the Islamic Revolution, vowed his country would not give up uranium enrichment.

• Five years ago: Pop singer Whitney Houston, 48, was found dead in a hotel room in Beverly Hills, California.

Birthdays

• 89: Conrad Janis, actor

• 79: Tina Louise, actress

• 76: Sergio Mendes, bandleader

• 55: Sheryl Crow, singer

• 48: Jennifer Aniston, actress

• 25: Taylor Lautner, actor

Thought for today

"Perhaps when we find ourselves wanting everything, it is because we are dangerously close to wanting nothing." — Sylvia Plath (1932-63)